Prophecy finishers of the reformation

WHERE HAVE WE GONE
WRONG IN THE WORK?
Finishers Of The Reformation

Laodicean Message for Adventists.
The message to the Laodicean church is highly
applicable to us as a people. It has been placed
before us for a long time, but has not been
heeded as it should have been. When the work
of repentance is earnest and deep, the
individual members of the church will buy the
rich goods of heaven. [Revelation 3:18 quoted.]
Oh, how many behold things in a perverted
light, in the light in which Satan would have
them see. {The Review and Herald, December
15,1904, 7 bc 961.3}

Acceptable Time Periods
• We are again in an acceptable Time
Period
• Adventism was birthed out of the
Reformation
• Adventism presented the best
opportunity of Finishing this Great
Controversy

Promise of Revival
• Hos 5:15 I will go and return to my place, till
they acknowledge their offence, and seek my
face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
• Hos 6:1 Come, and let us return unto the
LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he
hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
• Hos 6:2 After two days will he revive us: in the
third day he will raise us up, and we shall live
in his sight.

•Since many other church-
denominations claim the
reformation as their fathers,
what then do Adventists
have to offer the world? The
answer is the gospel of
Righteousness by Faith.

Reformation Defined
• Always has to be in context of the
16th Century Reformation.
• The central truth of the
Reformation then was Justification
by Faith.
• Any true Reformation must be
built on the idea of Justification by
Faith.

Finishing the Reformation
• Thus the Waldenses witnessed for God
centuries before the birth of Luther. Scattered
over many lands, they planted the seeds of the
Reformation that began in the time of Wycliffe,
grew broad and deep in the days of Luther, and
is to be carried forward to the close of time by
those who also are willing to suffer all things for
"the word of God, and for the testimony of
Jesus Christ." Revelation 1:9. {GC 78.1}

• The Reformation did not, as many
suppose, end with Luther. It is to be
continued to the close of this world's
history. …From that time to this, new
light has been continually shining
upon the Scriptures, and new truths
have been constantly unfolding. {GC
148.4}

• Christ was a protestant. He protested
against the formal worship of the Jewish
nation, who rejected the counsel of God
against themselves. He told them that they
taught for doctrines the commandments of
men, and that they were pretenders and
hypocrites. Like whited sepulchers they
were beautiful without, but within full of
impurity and corruption. {RH, June 1, 1886
par. 14}

Continued
• The Reformers date back to Christ and the
apostles. They came out and separated
themselves from a religion of forms and
ceremonies. Luther and his followers did
not invent the reformed religion. They
simply accepted it as presented by Christ
and the apostles. The Bible is presented to us
as a sufficient guide; but the pope and his
workers remove it from the people as if it were
a curse, because it exposes their pretensions
and rebukes their idolatry. {RH, June 1, 1886
par. 14}

Noah Webster 1828 Dictionary
• By way of eminence, the change of
religion from the corruptions of popery
to its primitive purity, begun by
Luther, A.D. 1517.
• One of those who commenced the
reformation of religion from popish
corruption; as Luther, Melancthon,
Zuinglius and Calvin.

Counterfeit Reformation
• Through heathenism, Satan had for ages turned
men away from God; but he won his great triumph
in perverting the faith of Israel. By contemplating
and worshiping their own conceptions, the
heathen had lost a knowledge of God, and had
become more and more corrupt. So it was with
Israel. The principle that man can save himself by
his own works lay at the foundation of every
heathen religion; it had now become the principle
of the Jewish religion. Satan had implanted this
principle. Wherever it is held, men have no barrier
against sin. {DA 35.2}

Counterfeit Reformation
• The Roman Church had made
merchandise of the grace of God. But the
very means adopted for Rome's
aggrandizement provoked the deadliest blow
to her power and greatness. It was this that
aroused the most determined and successful
of the enemies of popery, and led to the battle
which shook the papal throne and jostled the
triple crown upon the pontiff's head. {GC
127.1}

Our Message
• The message of Christ's
righteousness is to sound from one
end of the earth to the other to
prepare the way of the Lord. This is
the glory of God, which closes the
work of the third angel.--6T 19
(1900). {LDE 200.3}

If the physical heart is healthy, the blood that
is sent from it through the system is also
healthy; but if this fountain is impure, the
whole organism becomes diseased by the
poison of the vital fluid. So it is with us. If the
heart of the work becomes corrupt, the whole
church, in its various branches and interests,
scattered abroad over the face of the earth,
suffers in consequence. {4T 210.4}

The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish
people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from them the kingdom of God and
gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle with every branch of
His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the word of the Lord, whatever their
position may be, however high and sacred their calling, the Lord can no longer work with
them. Others are then chosen to bear important responsibilities. But, if these in turn do
not purify their lives from every wrong action, if they do not establish pure and holy
principles in all their borders, then the Lord will grievously afflict and humble them and,
unless they repent, will remove them from their place and make them a reproach. . . .
{UL 131.3}

The leaders in the Jewish nation had signally
failed of fulfilling God's purpose for his chosen
people. Those whom the Lord had made the
depositaries of truth had proved unfaithful to their
trust, and God chose others to do his work. {RH,
February 9, 1911 par. 4}

Brethren, if you continue to be as idle, as worldly, as selfish as you have been,
God will surely PASS YOU BY, and take those who are less self-caring, less
ambitious for worldly honor, and who will not hesitate to go, as did their Master,
without the camp, bearing the reproach. The work will be given to those who
will take it, those who prize it, who weave its principles into their everyday
experience. God will choose humble men who are seeking to glorify His name
and advance His cause rather than to honor and advance themselves. He will
raise up men who have not so much worldly wisdom, but who are connected
with Him, and who will seek strength and counsel from above. {5T 461.1}

Those who claim to believe the truth do not possess that power
that God would bestow upon them if they really believed, and
were striving for conformity to His image. The church is in the
Laodicean state. The presence of God is not in her midst. If
Christ were formed within, the hope of glory, conformity to His
image would be seen, and the church trials which separate the
members from Christ would disappear. . . . {1NL 99.4}

The Lord does not now work to bring many souls
into the truth, because of the church members
who have never been converted, and those who
were once converted but who have backslidden.--
Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 371. (1900) {Ev 110.2}

WHO IS TO
FINISH THE
WORK!!!!!

The great and wonderful work of the last gospel
message is to be carried on now as it has never been
before. The world is to receive the light of truth
through an evangelizing ministry of the word in our
books and periodicals. Our publications are to show
that the end of all things is at hand. I am bidden to say
to our publishing houses: "Lift up the standard; lift it
up higher. Proclaim the third angel's message, that it
may be heard by all the world. Let it be seen that 'here
are they that keep the commandments of God, and the
faith of Jesus.' Revelation 14:12. Let our literature give
the message as a witness to all the world." {9T 61.1}

There is enough wealth in your
conference to carry forward this work
successfully; and shall the prince of
darkness be left in undisputed
possession of our great cities because it
costs something to sustain missions? Let
those who would follow Christ fully
come up to the work, even if it be over
the heads of ministers and president. {5T
369.2}

As the medical missionary work
becomes more extended, there will
be a temptation to make it
independent of our conferences. But
it has been presented to me that this
plan is not right. The different lines
of our work are but parts of one great
whole. They have one center. {6T
235.1}

The medical missionary workers are doing the long-neglected work
which God gave to the church in Battle Creek --they are giving the last
call to the supper which He has prepared. {8T 71.1} My brethren, why
do you keep so many things bound up in Battle Creek? Why do you not
take the tract and missionary work into other cities, where there is
much missionary work to be done? {8T 71.2} The many interests
centering in Battle Creek should be divided and subdivided, and placed
in other cities. You who think you are wise men may say: "It will cost too
much. We can do the work here in Battle Creek at less expense." Well,
does not the Lord know all this? Is not He a God who understands all
the unbelieving reasoning that holds so many interests in Battle Creek?
He has revealed to you that centers should be made in all the cities.
This would call many out of Battle Creek to work in other places. {8T
71.3} In order to be carried forward aright, the medical missionary
work needs talent. It requires strong, willing hands, and wise,
discriminating management. But can this be while those in responsible
places--presidents of conferences and ministers --bar the way? {8T
71.4} The Lord says to the presidents of conferences and to other
influential brethren: "Remove the stumbling blocks that have been

Time is short, and there is a great work
to be done. If you feel no interest in the
work that is going forward, if you will
not encourage medical missionary work
in the churches, it will be done without
your consent; for it is the work of God,
and it must be done. My brethren and
sisters, take your position on the Lord's
side and be earnest, active, courageous
co-workers with Christ, laboring with
Him to seek and save the lost. {8T 75.2}

Let not those who preach the word lay
their hands upon the humblest worker
and say: "You must labor in this channel
or not work at all." Hands off, brethren.
Let everyone work in his own sphere,
with his own armor on, doing whatever
he can do in his humble way. Strengthen
his hands in the work. This is no time for
pharisaism to control. Let God work
through whom He will. The message
must go. {5T 461.2}

As the light and life of men was rejected by the ecclesiastical
authorities in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected in every
succeeding generation. Again and again the history of Christ's
withdrawal from Judea has been repeated. When the Reformers
preached the word of God, they had no thought of separating
themselves from the established church; but the religious leaders
would not tolerate the light, and those that bore it were forced to
seek another class, who were longing for the truth. In our day few of
the professed followers of the Reformers are actuated by their spirit.
Few are listening for the voice of God, and ready to accept truth in
whatever guise it may be presented. Often those who follow in the
steps of the Reformers are forced to turn away from the churches
they love, in order to declare the plain teaching of the word of God.
And many times those who are seeking for light are by the same
teaching obliged to leave the church of their fathers, that they may
render obedience. {DA 232.2}

State conferences may depend upon the
General Conference for light and
knowledge and wisdom; but is it safe for
them to do this? Battle Creek is not to be
the center of God's work. God alone can
fill this place. When our people in the
different places have their special
convocations, teach them, for Christ's
sake and for their own soul's sake, not to
make flesh their arm. {TM 375.2}

How my heart aches to see presidents of
conferences taking the burden of
selecting those whom they think they
can mold to work with them in the field.
They take those who will not differ with
them, but will act like mere machines.
No president has any right to do this.
Leave others to plan; and if they fail in
some things, do not take it as an
evidence that they are unfitted to be
thinkers. {TM 304.1}

A strange thing has come into our churches.
Men who are placed in positions of
responsibility that they may be wise helpers to
their fellow workers have come to suppose that
they were set as kings and rulers in the
churches, to say to one brother, Do this; to
another, Do that; and to another, Be sure to
labor in such and such a way. There have been
places where the workers have been told that if
they did not follow the instruction of these
men of responsibility, their pay from the
conference would be withheld. {TM 477.2}

Worldly policy is taking the place of true piety and
wisdom that comes from above, and God will
remove His prospering hand from the conference.
Shall the ark of the covenant be removed from this
people? Shall idols be smuggled in? Shall false
principles and false precepts be brought into the
sanctuary? Shall antichrist be respected? Shall the
true doctrines and principles given us by God,
which have made us what we are, be ignored?
...This is directly where the enemy, through
blinded, unconsecrated men, is leading us (Ms. 29,
1890).

The General Conference is becoming
corrupted with wrong sentiments and
principles...{LDE49.2}... Those living in
distant countries will not do that which
their judgment tells them is right unless
they first send for permission to Battle
Creek. Before they will advance they
await Yes or No from that place.--SpT-
A(9)32(1896). {LDE 49.6}.

The arrangement that all moneys must go through
Battle Creek and under the control of the few men
in that place is a wrong way of managing. There are
altogether too many weighty responsibilities given
to a few men, and some do not make God their
counselor. What do these men know of the
necessities of the work in foreign countries? How
can they know how to decide the questions which
come to them asking for information? It would
require three months for those in foreign countries
to receive a response to their questions, even if
there was no delay in writing. {TM 321.1}

The Lord has not placed any one of His human
agencies under the dictation and control of those
who are themselves but erring mortals. He has not
placed upon men the power to say, You shall do
this, and you shall not do that. But there is a power
exercised in Battle Creek that God has not given,
and He will judge those who assume this authority.
They have somewhat of the same spirit that led
Uzzah to lay his hand on the ark to steady it, as
though God was not able to care for His sacred
symbols. Far less of man's power and authority
should be exercised toward God's human agencies.
Brethren, leave God to rule. {TM 347.3}

The Wrong Direction--Brethren, do not
depend on the President of your Conference
or the President of the General Conference to
think for you. God has given "to every man
his work." When men look to the President of
the Conference as their helper in all their
difficulties, the bearer of their burdens, the
counselor in their perplexities, they are doing
the very opposite of that which Christ told
them to do.--Manuscript 11, 1883, p. 1. {ChL
63.2}

Jesus sends his people a message of warning to prepare them for his
coming. To the prophet John was made known the closing work in the
great plan of man's redemption. He beheld an angel flying "in the midst of
heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on
the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of
his Judgment is come; and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and
the sea, and the fountains of waters." [Revelation 14:6, 7.] {4SP 199.2}
The angel represented in prophecy as delivering this message, symbolizes a
class of faithful men, who, obedient to the promptings of God's Spirit and
the teachings of his word, proclaim this warning to the inhabitants of
earth. This message was not to be committed to the religious leaders of the
people. They had failed to preserve their connection with God, and had
refused the light from Heaven; therefore they were not of the number
described by the apostle Paul: "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that
that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and
the children of the day; we are not of the night nor of darkness." [1
Thessalonians 5:4, 5.] {4SP 199.3}

Time is short, and our forces must be organized to
do a larger work. Laborers are needed who
comprehend the greatness of the work and who
will engage in it, not for the wages they receive, but
from a realization of the nearness of the end. The
time demands greater efficiency and deeper
consecration. Oh, I am so full of this subject that I
cry to God: "Raise up and send forth messengers
filled with a sense of their responsibility,
messengers in whose hearts self-idolatry, which lies
at the foundation of all sin, has been crucified." {9T
27.2}

Life Insurance
I was shown that Sabbathkeeping Adventists should not
engage in life insurance. This is a commerce with the world
which God does not approve. Those who engage in this
enterprise are uniting with the world, while God calls His
people to come out from among them and to be separate.
Said the angel: "Christ has purchased you by the sacrifice of
His life. 'What? know ye not that your body is the temple of
the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye
are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.'
'For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with Him in glory.'" Here is the only life insurance
which heaven sanctions. {1T 549.2}

Life insurance is a worldly policy which leads our brethren who engage in it
to depart from the simplicity and purity of the gospel. Every such
departure weakens our faith and lessens our spirituality. Said the angel:
"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a
peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath
called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." As a people we are in
a special sense the Lord's. Christ has bought us. Angels that excel in
strength surround us. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without the notice
of our heavenly Father. Even the hairs of our head are numbered. God has
made provision for His people. He has a special care for them, and they
should not distrust His providence by engaging in a policy with the world.
{1T 550.1}
God designs that we should preserve in simplicity and holiness our
peculiarity as a people. Those who engage in this worldly policy invest
means which belong to God, which He has entrusted to them to use in His
cause, to advance His work. But few will realize any returns from life
insurance, and without God's blessing even these will prove an injury
instead of a benefit. Those whom God has made His stewards have no
right to place in the enemy's ranks the means which He has entrusted to
them to use in His cause. {1T 550.2}

Satan is constantly presenting inducements to God's chosen people to attract their
minds from the solemn work of preparation for the scenes just in the future. He is
in every sense of the word a deceiver, a skillful charmer. He clothes his plans and
snares with coverings of light borrowed from heaven. He tempted Eve to eat of the
forbidden fruit by making her believe that she would be greatly advantaged
thereby. Satan leads his agents to introduce various inventions and patent rights
and other enterprises, that Sabbathkeeping Adventists who are in haste to be rich
may fall into temptation, become ensnared, and pierce themselves through with
many sorrows. He is wide awake, busily engaged in leading the world captive, and
through the agency of worldlings he keeps up a continual pleasing excitement to
draw the unwary who profess to believe the truth to unite with worldlings. The
lust of the eye, the desire for excitement and pleasing entertainment, is a
temptation and snare to God's people. Satan has many finely woven, dangerous
nets which are made to appear innocent, but with which he is skillfully preparing
to infatuate God's people. There are pleasing shows, entertainments,
phrenological lectures, and an endless variety of enterprises constantly arising
calculated to lead the people of God to love the world and the things that are in
the world. Through this union with the world, faith becomes weakened, and
means which should be invested in the cause of present truth are transferred to
the enemy's ranks. Through these different channels Satan is skillfully draining
the purses of God's people, and for it the displeasure of the Lord is upon them. {1T
550.3}

God wants minute-men. He will have men who, when
important decisions are to be made, are as true as the
needle to the pole; men whose special and personal
interests are swallowed up, as were our Saviour's, in the
one great general interest for the salvation of souls. {GW92
377.2}
The greatest want of the world is the want of men,--men
who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost
souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin
by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty
as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right
though the heavens fall.--Education, p. 57. (1903) {CM
54.4}

Shall the "regular lines", which say that every
mind shall be controlled by two or three
minds at Battle Creek, continue to bear sway?
The Macedonian cry is coming from every
quarter. Shall men go to the "regular lines" to
see whether they will be permitted to labor,
or shall they go out and work as best they
can, depending on their own abilities and on
the help of the Lord, beginning in a humble
way and creating an interest in the truth in
places in which nothing has been done to
give the warning message? {SpM 176.5}

"God calls for a revival and a reformation. The 'regular
lines' have not done the work which God desires to see
accomplished. Let revival and reformation make constant
changes. Something has been done in this line, but let not
the work stop here. No; let every yoke be broken. Let men
awaken to the realization that they have an individual
responsibility. {GCB, April 11, 1903 par. 5}
"The present showing is sufficient to prove to all who
have the true missionary spirit that the 'regular lines' may
prove a failure and a snare. God helping His people, the
circle of kings who dared to take such great responsibilities
shall never again exercise their unsanctified power in the
so-called 'regular lines.' Too much power has been
invested in unrevived, unreformed, human agencies."
{GCB, April 11, 1903 par. 6}

It is not the Lord's will that the work in
the South shall be confined to the set,
"regular lines." It has been found
impossible to confine the work to these
lines and gain success. Workers daily
filled with zeal and wisdom from on high
must work as they are guided by the
Lord, waiting not to receive their
commission from men. {SW, December
15, 1903 par. 14}

The situation was again presented, and the urgency of
occupying the fields that were presented to me, then being
worked under the supervision of God, using Edson White
as His agency to open the field. But there were no others
that would think of touching that portion of the field or
would engage in working it. Those who should have
rejoiced to see something done were determined to give no
recognition to Edson White or the work, because he did
not work in the regular lines. God has presented before
you how He regarded the regular lines. The regular lines
had need to be broken as a potter's vessel is broken, and
reconstructed.--Ms 29, 1903, pp. 1, 3. (General manuscript,
"The Southern Work," Undated.) {3MR 264.3}

It is time that church members understood that
everywhere there is a work to be done in the Lord's
vineyard. No one is to wait for a regular process
before they make any efforts. They should take up
the work right where they are. There should be
many at work in what are called "irregular lines." If
one hundred laborers would step out of the
"regular lines," and take up self-sacrificing work,
such as Brother Shireman has done, souls would be
won to the Lord. And the workers would
understand by experience what it means to be
laborers together with God. {SpM 195.5}

"Over and over again men have said, 'The voice of the Conference is the voice of
God; therefore everything must be referred to the Conference. The Conference
must permit or restrict in the various lines of work.' As the matter has been
presented to me, there is a narrow compass, and within this narrow compass, all
the openings to which are locked, are those who would like to exercise kingly
power. But the work carried on all over the field demands an entirely different
course of action. There is need of the laying of a foundation different from the
foundation which has been laid in the past. We have heard much about
everything moving in the regular lines. When we see that the 'regular lines' are
purified and refined, that they bear the mold of the God of heaven, then it will be
time to endorse these lines. But when we see that message after message given by
God has been received and accepted, yet no change has been made, we know that
new power must be brought into the regular lines. The management of the regular
lines must be entirely changed, newly organized. There must be a committee, not
composed of half a dozen men, but of representatives from all lines of our work,
from our publishing house, from our educational institutions, and from our
sanitariums, which have life in them, which are constantly working, constantly
broadening. {GCB, April 10, 1903 par. 3}

UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES WE ARE
LIVING IN
Zec 1:4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets
have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from
your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor
hearken unto me, saith the LORD.
Ho 6:1-3 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn,
and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After
two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we
shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know
the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall
come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the
earth.

I saw that the slave master [SEE APPENDIX.] will have
to answer for the soul of his slave whom he has kept in
ignorance; and the sins of the slave will be visited upon
the master. God cannot take to heaven the slave who has
been kept in ignorance and degradation, knowing
nothing of God or the Bible, fearing nothing but his
master's lash, and holding a lower position than the
brutes. But He does the best thing for him that a
compassionate God can do. He permits him to be as if he
had not been, while the master must endure the seven
last plagues and then come up in the second
resurrection and suffer the second, most awful death.
Then the justice of God will be satisfied. {EW 276.1}

God does not send messengers to flatter the sinner.
He delivers no message of peace to lull the
unsanctified into fatal security. He lays heavy
burdens upon the conscience of the wrongdoer,
and pierces the soul with arrows of conviction. The
ministering angels present to him the fearful
judgments of God to deepen the sense of need, and
prompt the cry, "What must I do to be saved?"
Then the hand that has humbled in the dust, lifts
up the penitent. The voice that has rebuked sin,
and put to shame pride and ambition, inquires
with tenderest sympathy, "What wilt thou that I
shall do unto thee?" {DA 104.1}

My sons, I would have you firmly united as brothers in the flesh and as brothers in Christian fellowship. I
have a work to do, and I am now making decisions. I must remain away from conference meetings. I must not
attend camp meetings. The spirit of drawing apart, as the result of judging one another, has become so
common, and the churches are becoming so leavened with this spirit, that I have no desire to attend these
meetings. After returning from them, it is often weeks before I am able to take up my neglected work.
Because those in positions of responsibility have for years left the Southern field unworked, notwithstanding
the most decided testimonies urging them to take up this work; because they continue to neglect this field
and use every manner of device in trying to uproot the confidence of the people in those who have done the
hardest and most self-sacrificing work in the South, I have but very little confidence that the Lord is giving
these men in positions of responsibility spiritual eyesight and heavenly discernment. I am thrown into
perplexity over their course; and I desire now to attend to my special work, to have no part in any of their
councils, and to attend no camp-meetings, nigh nor afar off. My mind shall not be dragged into confusion by
the tendency they manifest to work directly contrary to the light that God has given me. I am done. I will
preserve my God-given intelligence. My voice has been heard in the different conferences and at camp
meetings. I must now make a change. I cannot enter the atmosphere of strife and then have to bear
testimonies that cost me much more than those to whom they are sent can imagine. When I attend the
different meetings, I am compelled to deal with men, standing in responsible places, who I know are not
exerting an influence that God can endorse. And when I bear a testimony in reference to their course of
action, advantage is taken of this testimony. These men have not clear understanding. Should I say the things
that I know, they would not, with their present experience, use this instruction wisely, and would bring upon
me inconceivable burdens. I shall, therefore, leave them to receive word from the Bible, in which the
principles upon which they should work are laid down in straight lines. There are those who look upon
themselves as the Lord's servants, but who, as shown by the way in which the Southern work has been
handled, are working away from the light that God has for years been giving. I have pity for them, but I cannot
be forever pointing out for them the way of righteousness. They are brought no nearer right actions by what I
say than if the words were never spoken. So long as those in responsible positions see things through a false
medium, they will put a wrong construction on my work. The light I have for our ministers is: Seek God; stop
your whisperings and your evil surmisings instigated by Satan, and see if the love of God will not fill heart and
soul. And I will go on with my writing. This is the light given me, and I shall not depart from it. {17MR64.1-
65.3}

Let me tell you, if your heart is in the work, and you have faith in
God, you need not depend upon the sanction of any minister or any
people; if you go right to work in the name of the Lord, in a humble
way doing what you can to teach the truth, God will vindicate you. If
the work had not been so restricted by an impediment here, and an
impediment there, and on the other side an impediment, it would
have gone forward in its majesty. It would have gone in weakness at
first, but the God of heaven lives; the great Overseer lives, the One
who knew where Cornelius lived, and who appeared to him as an
angel, and declared to him, Your prayers and your alms have come
up as a memorial before God. And now do you send men for one
Simon, whose surname is Peter, who lives with one Simon a tanner.
And he told him the very place where Simon the tanner lived. Then
the angel of the Lord went to Peter, and prepared his mind for the
reception of the men. {1888 1746.2}

We cannot serve God and the world at the same time. We must not
center our affections on worldly relatives, who have no desire to
learn the truth. We may seek in every way, while associated with
them, to let our light shine; but our words, our deportment, our
customs and practices, should not in any sense be molded by their
ideas and customs. We are to show forth the truth in all our
intercourse with them. If we cannot do this, the less association we
have with them, the better it will be for our spirituality. If we place
ourselves among associates whose influence has a tendency to make
us forgetful of the high claims the Lord has upon us we invite
temptation and become too weak in moral power to resist it. We
come to partake of the spirit and cherish the ideas of our associates
and to place sacred and eternal things lower than the ideas of our
friends. We are, in short, leavened just as the enemy of all
righteousness designed we should be. {5T 543.1}

I was shown the necessity of those who believe that we are having
the last message of mercy, being separate from those who are daily
imbibing new errors. I saw that neither young nor old should attend
their meetings; for it is wrong to thus encourage them while they
teach error that is a deadly poison to the soul and teach for doctrines
the commandments of men. The influence of such gatherings is not
good. If God has delivered us from such darkness and error, we
should stand fast in the liberty wherewith He has set us free and
rejoice in the truth. God is displeased with us when we go to listen to
error, without being obliged to go; for unless He sends us to those
meetings where error is forced home to the people by the power of
the will, He will not keep us. The angels cease their watchful care
over us, and we are left to the buffetings of the enemy, to be
darkened and weakened by him and the power of his evil angels; and
the light around us becomes contaminated with the darkness. {EW
124.3}

I saw that we have no time to throw away in
listening to fables. Our minds should not be
thus diverted, but should be occupied with
the present truth, and seeking wisdom that
we may obtain a more thorough knowledge
of our position, that with meekness we may
be able to give a reason of our hope from the
Scriptures. While false doctrines and
dangerous errors are pressed upon the mind,
it cannot be dwelling upon the truth which is
to fit and prepare the house of Israel to stand
in the day of the Lord. {EW 125.1}

The Spirit of God had wrought with and through
Paul in his labors for his countrymen. Sufficient
evidence had been presented to convince all who
honestly desired to know the truth. But many
permitted themselves to be controlled by prejudice
and unbelief, and refused to yield to the most
conclusive evidence. Fearing that the faith of the
believers would be endangered by continued
association with these opposers of the truth, Paul
separated from them and gathered the disciples
into a distinct body, continuing his public
instructions in the school of Tyrannus, a teacher of
some note. {AA 285.3}

After a long and severe conflict, the faithful few decided to
dissolve all union with the apostate church if she still
refused to free herself from falsehood and idolatry. They
saw that separation was an absolute necessity if they
would obey the word of God. They dared not tolerate
errors fatal to their own souls, and set an example which
would imperil the faith of their children and children's
children. To secure peace and unity they were ready to
make any concession consistent with fidelity to God; but
they felt that even peace would be too dearly purchased at
the sacrifice of principle. If unity could be secured only by
the compromise of truth and righteousness, then let there
be difference, and even war. {GC 45.3}

The recreant priests added licentiousness to the dark
catalogue of their crimes; yet they still polluted by their
presence the tabernacle of the Lord, and, laden with sin,
dared to come into the presence of a holy God. As the men
of Israel witnessed the corrupt course of the priests, they
thought it safer for their families not to come up to the
appointed place of worship. Many went from Shiloh with
their peace disturbed, their indignation aroused, until they
at last determined to offer their sacrifices themselves,
concluding that this would be fully as acceptable to God,
as to sanction in any manner the abominations practiced
in the sanctuary. {ST, December 1, 1881 par. 13}

Dangers of Sensational Religion.--There
is no safety, much less benefit, for our
people in attending these popular
holiness meetings; let us rather search
the Scriptures with much carefulness
and earnest prayer, that we may
understand the ground of our faith.
Then we shall not be tempted to mingle
with those who, while making high
claims, are in opposition to the law of
God. {Ev 364.3}

As members of the Church of England, they were
strongly attached to her forms of worship, but the
Lord had presented before them in his Word a
higher standard. The Holy Spirit urged them to
preach Christ and him crucified. The power of the
Highest attended their labors. Thousands were
convicted and truly converted. It was necessary
that these sheep be protected from ravening
wolves. Wesley had no thought of forming a new
denomination, but he organized them under what
was called the Methodist Connection. {GC88
257.1}

I was confirmed in all I had stated in Minneapolis, that a
reformation must go through the churches. Reforms must be made,
for spiritual weakness and blindness were upon the people who had
been blessed with great light and precious opportunities and
privileges. As reformers they had come out of the denominational
churches, but they now act a part similar to that which the churches
acted. We hoped that there would not be the necessity for another
coming out. [THIS IS THE ONLY KNOWN STATEMENT FROM
THE PEN OF ELLEN WHITE INDICATING THAT SHE MIGHT
HAVE LOST CONFIDENCE IN THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST
CHURCH ORGANIZATION. THE DOUBT WHICH SHE
EXPRESSED HERE WAS NEVER REPEATED DURING THE
REMAINING TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF HER LIFE.] While we will
endeavor to keep the "unity of the Spirit" in the bonds of peace, we
will not with pen or voice cease to protest against bigotry.--EGW'88
356, 357 (1889). {LDE 48.1}

Said our Saviour: "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be
overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that
day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell
on the face of the whole earth"--upon all whose interests are centered in this
world. "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to
escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of
man." Luke 21:34-36. {PP 166.2} Before the destruction of Sodom, God sent a
message to Lot, "Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all
the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed." The same voice of
warning was heard by the disciples of Christ before the destruction of Jerusalem:
"When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the
desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the
mountains." Luke 21:20, 21. They must not tarry to secure anything from their
possessions, but must make the most of the opportunity to escape. {PP 166.3}
There was a coming out, a decided separation from the wicked, an escape for life.
So it was in the days of Noah; so with Lot; so with the disciples prior to the
destruction of Jerusalem; and so it will be in the last days. Again the voice of God
is heard in a message of warning, bidding His people separate themselves from
the prevailing iniquity. {PP 166.4}

We should beware of treating lightly God's gracious provisions for
our salvation. There are Christians who say, "I do not care to be
saved unless my companion and children are saved with me." They
feel that heaven would not be heaven to them without the presence
of those who are so dear. But have those who cherish this feeling a
right conception of their own relation to God, in view of His great
goodness and mercy toward them? Have they forgotten that they are
bound by the strongest ties of love and honor and loyalty to the
service of their Creator and Redeemer? The invitations of mercy are
addressed to all; and because our friends reject the Saviour's
pleading love, shall we also turn away? The redemption of the soul is
precious. Christ has paid an infinite price for our salvation, and no
one who appreciates the value of this great sacrifice or the worth of
the soul will despise God's offered mercy because others choose to
do so. The very fact that others are ignoring His just claims should
arouse us to greater diligence, that we may honor God ourselves, and
lead all whom we can influence, to accept His love. {PP 162.1}

Example of the Israelites
Just before the firstborn were slain in Egypt, the Lord instructed the Israelites to gather
their children into their houses with them, and to strike the lintel and the two side posts of
their doors with blood, so that when the destroying angel went through the land, he would
recognize the houses thus marked as the dwelling places of Christ's followers, and pass over
them. {PCP 29.3} Today we must gather our children about us, if we desire to save them
from the destructive power of the evil one. The conflict between Christ and Satan will
increase in intensity until the end of this earth's history. We are to have faith in the blood of
Christ, in order that we may pass safely through the perilous times just before us. {PCP
29.4} Let the children receive the blessings of this meeting. If you try to help them by
personal labor in your family tents, working with Christlike simplicity, the reviving,
reformatory power of God will come into your tents and enable you to pray in faith. Then
you can ask for the Lord's richest blessings to rest upon the little company in your tent.
{PCP 29.5} If we work diligently upon the plan of addition, we shall not be barren in a
knowledge of Christ. We should, however, take heed to ourselves, lest we fall because we do
not cherish and cultivate the Christian graces. “He that lacketh these things is blind, and
cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” This scripture
brings to view those who are in a divided state, those who talk as they please, those who
indulge appetite and passionate speech, failing to take themselves in hand. Such persons
have no moral strength to carry out the principles that would bring to them, as overcomers,
the crown of life. They are like a man who has forgotten that he has been purged from his
old sins. {PCP 29.6}

The enemy has had his way with your daughter until his toils have
bound her about like bands of steel, and it will require a strong,
persevering effort to save her soul. If you have success in this case,
there must be no halfway work. The habits of years cannot easily be
broken. She should be placed where a steady, firm, abiding influence
is constantly exercised. I would advise you to put her in the college at
-----; let her have the discipline of the boardinghouse. It is where she
ought to have been years ago. The boardinghouse is conducted upon
a plan that makes it a good home. This home may not suit the
inclinations of some, but it is because they have been educated to
false theories, to self-indulgence and self-gratification, and all their
habits and customs have been in a wrong channel. But, my dear
sister, we are nearing the end of time, and we want now, not to meet
the world's tastes and practices, but to meet the mind of God; to see
what saith the Scriptures, and then to walk according to the light
which God has given us. Our inclinations, our customs and
practices, are not to have the preference. God's word is our standard.
{5T 506.1}

The destroying angel is soon to go forth again, not to destroy the
first-born alone, but "to slay utterly old and young, both men,
women and little children" who have not the mark. Parents, if you
wish to save your children, separate them from the world, keep them
from the company of wicked children; for if you suffer them to go
with wicked children, you cannot prevent them from partaking of
their wickedness and being corrupted. It is your solemn duty to
watch over your children, to choose the society at all times for them.
Learn your children to obey you, then can they more easily obey the
commandments of God, and yield to his requirements. Don't let us
neglect to pray with, and for our children. He that said, "Suffer little
children to come unto me, and forbid them not," will listen to our
prayers for them, and the seal, or mark, of believing parents will
cover their children, if they are trained up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord. E. G. White. {RH, September 19, 1854 par.
13}

COMPLETE SEPARATION.--THE COMMAND FOUND IN
REVELATION 18:4, "COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE," MEANS
TO COME OUT OF THOSE INSTITUTIONS WHICH WILL PLACE
IN THE MINDS OF OUR YOUNG PEOPLE, PRINCIPLES WHICH
ARE APT TO MAKE THEM JOIN THE CLASS OF WORSHIPERS OF
WHICH WE READ IN 2 TIMOTHY 3:5: "HAVING A FORM OF
GODLINESS, BUT DENYING THE POWER THEREOF." AS
FAITHFUL WATCHMEN, WE SHOULD BE JUST AS DESIROUS OF
GETTING OUR CHILDREN OUT OF THE POPULAR SCHOOLS AS
WE ARE TO CALL THE OLDER PEOPLE OUT OF THE POPULAR
CHURCHES. THE POPULAR CHURCHES ARE ONLY A PRODUCT
OF WORLDLY EDUCATION, SO TO GET AT THE ROOT OF THE
MATTER, WE MUST SEPARATE OURSELVES FROM THAT
WHICH CREATES THE CONDITION IN WHICH ALL THE
RELIGIOUS WORLD, AT PRESENT, FINDS ITSELF. {PH081 38.1}

The people whom God had called to be the pillar and
ground of the truth had become representatives of Satan.
They were doing the work that he desired them to do,
taking a course to misrepresent the character of God, and
cause the world to look upon Him as a tyrant. The very
priests who ministered in the temple had lost sight of the
significance of the service they performed. They had
ceased to look beyond the symbol to the thing signified. In
presenting the sacrificial offerings they were as actors in a
play. The ordinances which God Himself had appointed
were made the means of blinding the mind and hardening
the heart. God could do no more for man through these
channels. The whole system must be swept away. {DA
36.2}

I saw that those who profess the truth should hold the standard high, and induce
others to come up to it. I saw that some would have to walk the straight path
alone. Their companions and children will not walk the self-denying pathway with
them. Patience and forbearance should ever characterize the lives of those lone
pilgrims, following the example of their blessed Master. They will have many trials
to endure, but they have a hope that makes the soul strong, that bears them up
above the trials of earth, that elevates them above scorn, derision and reproach.
Those who possess a hope like this should never indulge a harsh, unkind spirit.
This will only injure their own souls, and drive their friends farther from the truth.
Treat them tenderly. Give them no occasion to reproach the cause of Christ; but
never yield the truth to please any one. Be decided, be fixed, be established, be not
of a doubtful mind. {2SG 266.1} But if your companions and children will not
come, if you cannot win them to yield to the claims of truth, make their lives here
as pleasant as possible; for all they will ever enjoy will be this poor world. But let
not your duty to them interfere with your duty to God. Pursue a straight-forward
course. Let nothing they may do or say provoke an angry word from you. You have
a hope that will yield you consolation amid the disappointments and trials of life.
Your companions and children who will not be induced to tread the narrow, cross-
bearing pathway with you, have not this divine consolation. They should have your
pity, for this world is all the heaven they will have. {2SG 266.2}

THE TRUE CHURCH
"From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church on earth. In every age the Lord
has had His watchmen, who have borne a faithful testimony to the generation in which they
lived. These sentinels gave the message of warning; and when they were called to lay off their
armor, others took up the work. God brought these witnesses into covenant relation with
Himself, uniting the church on earth with the church in heaven. He has sent forth His angels to
minister to His church, and the gates of hell have not been able to prevail against His people."
{AA 11.2}
The SDA Church began as a "movement" and it will end as a "movement" again. The copyrighted
GC Corporation will cease to be "God's Church" at the Sunday Law, either because they will flip
to keeping Sunday, or because they refuse to comply and all the Church entities; schools, offices,
hospitals, and even individual church buildings, will all be confiscated by the Gov't. Those who
believe the "SDA Church" is the "structure" will have a hard time either way then.
There is the visible Church which is/was the pillar and ground of the truth, and there is the
invisible church made up of all faithful souls. Many faithful ones are NOT Sabbath-keepers --
some are Sabbath-keepers, but not in patented cooporate organisation.
You have the woman which is the structured church organized by God. Then you have the seed
of the woman, which is Abrahams seed, those who belong to Christ and are one in Christ as
Christ is one in them. The seed obviously then is the true and faithful. But the church can only
be God's true church as long as they are the pillar and ground of the truth. If they apostatize then
they are not His people and church, until or unless there is repentance, revival and a
reformation.

The time is coming when we shall be separated and
scattered, and each one of us will have to stand
without the privilege of communion with those of
like precious faith; and how can you stand unless
God is by your side, and you know that He is
leading and guiding you? Whenever we come to
investigate Bible truth, the Master of assemblies is
with us. The Lord does not leave the ship one
moment to be steered by ignorant pilots. We may
receive our orders from the Captain of our
salvation.--Review and Herald, March 25, 1890.
{CW 42.1}

I also saw that many do not realize
what they must be in order to live in
the sight of the Lord without a high
priest in the sanctuary through the
time of trouble. Those who receive
the seal of the living God and are
protected in the time of trouble must
reflect the image of Jesus fully.
{EW 71.1}

"Time is almost finished. Do you reflect the
lovely image of Jesus as you should?" Then
I was pointed to the earth and saw that
there would have to be a getting ready
among those who have of late embraced
the third angel's message. Said the angel,
"Get ready, get ready, get ready. Ye will
have to die a greater death to the world
than ye have ever yet died." I saw that there
was a great work to do for them and but
little time in which to do it. {EW 64.1}

It is in a crisis that character is revealed. When the
earnest voice proclaimed at midnight, "Behold, the
bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him," and the
sleeping virgins were roused from their slumbers, it was
seen who had made preparation for the event. Both
parties were taken unawares; but one was prepared for
the emergency, and the other was found without
preparation. So now, a sudden and unlooked-for
calamity, something that brings the soul face to face with
death, will show whether there is any real faith in the
promises of God. It will show whether the soul is
sustained by grace. The great final test comes at the
close of human probation, when it will be too late for the
soul's need to be supplied. {COL 412.1}

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